Zero's Return Read Online Free PDF Page A

sure. 
    Then Marie
gasped at what the minder was trying to tell her.  She had been in her own home
when she drafted and sent those letters, twenty miles from the lab.  His
influence couldn’t possibly reach that far.  But if it had… 
    What was the limit?
    Fearful, Marie
began backing away.  Twelve-A watched her soberly through the bars.  He was
huddled in one corner, his lanky knees tucked under his chin.  She felt like
she was caught in the tiger’s stare, but this time the tiger was debating.
    After a moment,
Twelve-A looked away.
    Marie sank down
to her knees in front of him, so relieved she was shaking.  Softly, she said,
“I can help you all get out of here.  I can help you start new lives on the
surface.” 
    Twelve-A’s blue
eyes flickered back toward her.  We can’t go now.  The aliens will kill us. 
    Marie felt like
she’d been struck.  “You know about the aliens?”
    I’ve been
watching them.  They’re hunting down the other labs.  This is the only one they
don’t know about.
    Marie blinked at
him, once again shocked by how much he had managed to hide from them.
    “We need you to
fight,” Marie whispered.  “We need you to stop the—”
    Twelve-A looked
up at her sharply.  I’m not killing the aliens.  
    “But you’ve got
to help us defend the—”
    No, Twelve-A thought.  I don’t.
    Coldness settled
in the pit of Marie’s stomach.  “You’re going to kill us, aren’t you?”
    I’m killing
everyone who knows about this place, Twelve-A said, his voice cold and
final.   It’s the only way the People are going to survive.
    Marie met the
deep blue of his gaze and sweat slid like ice down her back as she began to
bargain for her life.  “Once we’re dead, then what?  Where will you go?  What
will you do?” 
    Twelve-A’s gaze
lost its certainty and he reluctantly looked away, but not before she saw nervousness
and anxiety tightening his thin face.  For all of his talents, Twelve-A had
lived in a cage.  He had no idea how to survive on the surface.
    Seeing her
opportunity, Marie pushed on.  “You don’t know anything about the real world,”
she insisted.  “You’ve had everything handed to you.  You don’t know how to survive . 
I can help you create new lives for yourselves.  I can help you adapt.  
I’m your friend, Twelve-A.  I can help you.”
    He didn’t answer
her.  Looking drained, Twelve-A got to his feet.  Come with me to the Dark
Room.  I want you to watch something.
    Marie hesitated,
wanting to say more, but Twelve-A was already getting to his feet, waiting for
her to open his cage.  Reluctantly, because she didn’t really have a choice,
Marie swiped her card and entered her code.  Her skin prickled as the minder
smoothly stepped past her and led her out of the holding area, through
abandoned rooms and unmanned monitoring stations.  Everyone, she noted, was
gone.  Every tech had left his or her post, every doctor had found somewhere
else to be. 
    Once they stood
outside the small green door to the Dark Room, Twelve-A gave Marie a gentle
nudge to continue further down the hall, toward the observation booth. 
Confused, she went.
    The inside of
the booth was packed, the occupants were milling in obvious agitation.  Every
face she had ever seen inside the lab was there, checking their watches,
grimacing at the blond experiment pacing in the Dark Room.  As more staff
filtered into the observation booth, Marie anxiously glanced from Twelve-A to
the group of observers and back, wondering what he planned for them.  Her
entire body trembled with fear and adrenaline.  She’d heard the minder’s death
was painless, like falling asleep.  She was terrified she was about to find out.
    “So what are we
waiting for, Colonel?” one of the generals finally demanded.  The group had
become more and more aggravated as nothing happened in the room before them.
    “We’re waiting
for your test subjects,” the colonel replied briskly.